Tuesday, June 14, 2011

New Xbox to Debut at E3 2012?

So, this current generation of gaming consoles has been around for quite some time, six years to be exact, and a lot of people are wondering just how much life the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have left in them. Many gamers are calling for a new wave of consoles and the newest Xbox could be revealed sooner than anyone might have thought.

E3 2011 has come and gone and any announcement of a new console would have been given at the event. Aside from Nintendo's Wii U, which I still can't figure out if it's a new console or a new controller, nothing about the next generation of consoles was talked about. Everything was based in the present and focused mainly around motion controlled gaming with the PlayStation Move and Kinect.

However, it has just been revealed that the highly anticipated successor to the Xbox 360 will be revealed at E3 2012. It has also been revealed that Crytek is making a next-gen Timesplitters 4 game. That is, of course, if the sources speaking on Videogamer.com are correct.

According to Videogamer.com, a "high-ranking industry source at Crytek" told the site that even though specifications for the next Xbox have not been finalized, Crytek is using Microsoft's DirectX11 for next-gen game development. The "source" also stated that Microsoft will announce the new console next year, most likely at E3.

According to the source, "Crytek believes that Microsoft will announce and launch its new machine ahead of rival Sony, though the developer is also investing resources into next-generation PlayStation development."

In addition to that, the source also claims that Timesplitters 4 is currently in development and using the CryEngine 3. It was also said that the game is already being demoed internally. Timesplitters 4 was also supposedly shown off in private last week at E3 2011. If that is true, then it is the best kept secret from E3.

The source went on to say, "As for the game itself, the new Timesplitters is reported to focus on the series' branching paths and exploratory nature, with sandbox-style gameplay elements a big priority. The current goal is for levels to feature multiple routes that lead to the same overall conclusion."

Naturally, both Microsoft and Crytek declined to comment on this news. While the announcement of a new Timesplitters game isn't too crazy, the thought of a new console at E3 2012 is insane. If this is true, and not some well developed hoax, and Microsoft does manage to pump out a console before both Sony and Nintendo, then Microsoft can easily sweep the competition in the next-generation console wars.